Living Wage Foundation

The Living Wage Foundation was launched in 2011 by Citizens UK to tackle in-work poverty and ensure that workers earn enough to live on and participate in family and community life. Citizens UK is the home of community organising with diverse civil society alliances set up to develop leaders to work on the issues that matter to them, such as the Living Wage. Other projects include PACT (Parents and the Community Together) and Sponsor Refugees to add depth to the impact of Citizens UK’s work.

The Living Wage is a movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The real Living Wage is an independently-calculated hourly rate based on the cost of living and announced each November during Living Wage Week, our annual celebration of a growing network of almost 9,000 Living Wage Employers.

The Living Wage Foundation (LWF) celebrates employers that voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage through an accreditation scheme that recognises a long-term commitment to fair pay and has secured pay rises for over 300,000 low paid workers.

Purpose

The Living Wage Foundation has an exciting opportunity to join our dynamic team as a Programme Manager. We are looking for a highly motivated and organised individual with the ability to build relationships with employers to grow the Living Wage network, to develop projects that will grow our accreditations schemes and proactively influence change.

• Build and manage relationships with employers to support them to pay the real Living Wage and seek accreditation.

• Create, develop and employ the tools and knowledge available to inform and advise employers on implementing the Living Wage throughout their organisation.

• Communicate evidence for change to influence key stakeholders to become Living Wage employers, recognised Service Providers or Living Wage Funders and to champion the Living Wage to their networks.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of our work to refine our strategy and deliver projects in an efficient way.

Main Responsibilities

Relationship Management

• Build and manage relationships with employers and employer networks to promote and grow the Living Wage.

• Identify and develop strategic partnerships with a range of stakeholders including project partners and funders to support the Foundation’s work.

• Represent the organisation effectively to external audiences in meetings and events to promote the business and reputational benefits of the Living Wage.

Accreditation and Recognition

• Provide a high-quality client experience for employers that are interested in the Living Wage and provide timely advice and guidance on how to implement the Living Wage to support their accreditation.

• Process accreditations, recognitions and renewals whilst developing and improving appropriate CRM systems, including Salesforce.

• Keep up to date on latest Living Wage policy issues and support development and communication of Living Wage criteria to ensure that the Living Wage Foundation is responsive to the needs of employees and employers.

Project Management

• Develop and implement strategies to grow accreditations in specific sectors and regions to deliver the Living Wage Foundation’s business plan objectives.

• Lead on projects to promote and grow Living Wage accreditations and develop the quality of service offered.

• Manage bespoke budgets and identify opportunities to grow income.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of projects and provide reports to Head of Operations and Director.

People Management

• Line manage and support the development of direct reports to deliver business plan objectives.

• Support the training and induction of team members and work collaboratively with the wider team to ensure that we are meeting the expectations of our network and stakeholders.

• Work with Citizens UK community organisers, members and leaders to promote civic engagement with and ownership of the Living Wage campaign.

Communications and Events

• Organise employer events to celebrate and grow our network of Living Wage employers, including playing an active role in the delivery of Living Wage Week every year

• Collate case studies and examples of best practice to develop materials and promote the Living Wage.

• Support the development of the Foundation’s presence on social media and website.